A War in Central City
by Archdemon Slayer
Summary: It was a normal, slow day for those in STAR labs. Then two people come through a breach. And this drags Team Flash into new trouble.
1. Newcomers

**This takes place the next day after 3x10 on Flash. And Barry didn't have nightmares about Iris' death yet. And the OC I have used in three other of my Fate/stay night fanfics.**

 **And even though they are in anime, all the Servants and the Master from Fate/stay night and Achilles from Fate/Apocrypha look real-life.**

 **When I saw the breaches in season 2, an idea for this story wormed its way into my head. Now I'm like "Fuck it, I'm going to make this story."**

* * *

In the cortex of STAR labs, everyone except H.R, who called to say he would be late for some reason, was present. The rest were looking for metahumans. H.R. had just walked in, holding a tray of coffee.

"Coffee for everyone!" H.R. exclaimed with a giant grin on his face.

"When will your obsession with coffee end?" Caitlin asked with a sigh.

"It's not an obsession!" H.R. replied, happy mood not at all turned off.

"It kinda is," Cisco spoke up, not looking up from his computer screen. He typed something else on his keyboard. "I swear to God, it's all you ever drink."

"Well, that's because -" H.R. started, but Caitlin interrupted him.

"We know. It's because of the blight on your Earth. You've told us a million times."

Barry decided to save H.R. from this criticism. "So why did you get us all coffee and not just some for yourself?"

H.R. turned his smile away from Cisco and Caitlin and to Barry. "I thought this would be a way to welcome Julian to the group!"

"Did someone say my name?" Julian asked, leaning back in the chair to the desk in the next room.

"Why, yes indeed!" H.R. chimed as he went over to the man, grabbing a cup of coffee from the tray and handing it to Julian. "B.A. told me you normally drink it with a shot of espresso."

Julian took it, but didn't look away from H.R. "And this is tooo...what?"

"To say welcome to the group!" H.R. said happily. "After all, we're all friends!" Then he turned around and walked back to the others. "And here's some for the rest of you!" He began handing out a plastic cup for everyone.

"Well, I won't complain about free coffee," Wally said as he took his cup from H.R.

H.R. beamed at him next. "That's the spirit, Wally!"

Iris glanced at Barry. "I take it you already finished yours?"

"Uhh, yeah..."

Julian looked at Barry in shock. "How..?!" Then he remembered. "I swear, it'll take me time to get used to the idea of you being a speedster."

Barry walked over to Cisco. "Anything? It doesn't have to be a metahuman. Just a crime for Wally and I to stop."

"There isn't one," Cisco replied. "If there was, I would have said something by now."

"You bored, B.A?" H.R. asked.

"Well, yeah," Barry told him. "We've thrown Savitar into the speedforce, Julian's not being Alchemy anymore -"

" _Doctor_ Alchemy!" Cisco said loudly.

"Whatever. And because of me and Wally, crime has gone down. So Joe and I are not needed at the CCPD as often anymore."

"As much as I hate to agree with Barry, he _does_ have a point," Julian said, taking another sip of his coffee. "It is getting rather boring."

"OK, first off, you're the new guy, so you don't know what it feels like to go through what we normally go through," Cisco said, looking at him. "Until you do, don't be making comments like that!"

"Hey, hey! Calm down, Francisco!" H.R. exclaimed. "We're all friends here!"

"I know, but he's pissing me off," Cisco grumbled.

"Now you know how I feel every day working with _him_ ," Barry muttered to Cisco.

Cisco didn't look up from his computer screen. "Barry, now I know what you mean by 'I hate working with that guy'."

Barry sighed and leaned forward on the desk with the computers. "No, you don't. Trust me. You haven't seen _anything_ yet." There was a beeping sound on Cisco's computer. "What's that?"

"Someone's coming through a breach here!" Cisco replied.

"What?!" Barry exclaimed.

"Where are they coming from?!" Joe demanded.

"Don't know! Let's head to the breach now before we're too late!" Cisco said. The group of eight ran down to the breach room, though Barry and Wally used their speed to get there first in case troublemakers were coming. Shortly after everyone had entered the room, the blue breach opened.

"Who's coming?!' Caitlin demanded.

"We're about to find out," Barry replied. Julian had questions, but decided to leave them for later. This was probably more important. Joe had his gun out and at the ready in case trouble was coming.

Two people came out of the breach and hit the floor hard. One was holding another bridal-style, so when they fell forward, that person was now on top of the other.

"Get off me!" the one on the bottom shouted.

"Sorry!" the other apologized. The person who said sorry was a man. As he quickly got off the other, the rest could see that he looked young - probably in his 20s. He had green hair. While the hair on the lower half of his head looked short and dark green, the hair on the top of his head was a light green color. It was also a little longer and spiked and some was hanging down and covering most of his left eye. His eyes were light brown. He wore an orange sash wrapped over his right shoulder and around his left hip. It was over plating, which probably had chain or scale mail in the fabric, over his chest. And this was over a black short-sleeved shirt that looked to be made of thick fabric, but not wool.

On both of his shoulders were steel shoulder armor. And at the bottoms of them over the arms were silver-grey squares of fabric. On his hands were black gloves with the sleeves of them going past halfway up the forearms. Connected to a steel loop, one at the end of the sleeve of the gloves and one at the wrists, were steel pieces of armor.

He wore a belt of steel plating and below were black pants covering his legs. He was wearing steel boots. At the ankle up to his knee was twisting metal, two lines looping in on each other.

The other person got up, grumbling and dusting themself off. It was a woman, looking to be around the same age as the man. She had silver hair going down her back to almost her waist. A couple strands of her bangs were getting into her bright blue eyes.

Unlike the man, she wasn't wearing any armor. She wore a long-sleeved black button-up shirt under an opened light blue jacket. Over her legs were a pair of blue jeans and on her feet were what looked like shin-high black boots over her pant legs.

But what was really interesting was the back of her right hand. It looked like a red tattoo was on it. Near her wrist was a shape like a U going up to her fingers, but with a gap in the bottom of the shape. And on the outside of the two line was what looked like only one row of feathers. But the tips of them were pointed. In between the two lines was what looked like a red outline of a diamond.

The girl stopped grumbling and looked at the group of seven staring wide-eyed at the group. "...Rider?"

"Yeah?" the man, Rider, replied.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Like I would know." Then Rider looked over his shoulder, where the breach had been. It had closed as soon as the two came out. "It looks like we weren't followed by the Alters."

"Umm..." Cisco started, making the two strangers look at him. "I'm sorry, but who are you two?"

"We don't have to answer," the woman replied. "We just want to know how to get back. Screw the Root, I just want the Holy Grail right now so I can wish the problem away."

Barry was suddenly in front of the woman. But she didn't look shocked at his speed, as if she had seen someone go that fast before. He grabbed her left arm. "Sorry, but unless you want us to lock you both up, you'd better answer our questions."

Then Rider did something that surprised the group, but the woman was unfazed. He held his right hand out in front of his body, fingers out and palm facing out. What looked like a thick bolt of green lightning appeared in his hand. He closed his fingers around the lightning. As soon as he grabbed the bolt, the green faded. He was now holding the black shaft of a spear, horizontal to his body. At the end in front of his left shoulder was the blade of the spear. The blade was blue. And it was shaped like an upside-down T. The main point was bladed on both sides while the two "branches" were only bladed on the edge facing up, in the same direction the middle of the three blades was pointing.

"Whoa!" Cisco exclaimed. "That guy's suddenly got a weapon!" Joe just tensed his finger on the trigger.

Rider ignored Cisco. The man was snarling at Barry. "Unless you want to lose your arm, release my Master right now!"

"Stand down, Rider," the woman said, not taking her eyes off Barry.

Rider glanced at the girl and opened his mouth, like he was about to protest. But then he closed his mouth and lowered his right arm, his spear vanishing in a dust of blue particles. He sighed heavily. "Whatever you say, Master." Joe sighed and lowered his gun slightly, but still held it with both hands, at the ready.

Julian spoke up. "Why does he keep calling her Master?"

The woman spoke, still looking Barry in the eyes. "You don't seem to be a normal human yourself. Unless everyone from this place can move that fast."

"Nope," Caitlin told her with a sigh. "Only he and Wally can do that in our world."

The girl continued talking. "In that case, it should be fine if I tell all of you this. To answer the question that had been asked first, my name is Akiko Hashomoto." Barry let go of Akiko's arm and she gestured to her green-haired partner, who was crossing his arms and giving Barry a dirty look. "I am the Master of him, a Rider-class Servant. As such, please call him Rider."

"And why are you two here?" was Iris' question.

Akiko looked at her. "It's a long story."

"It doesn't matter; tell us anyway," Barry said to the stranger. "We need to know if we've been pulled into a new situation."

Akiko sighed in defeat. "Ugh, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Why?" Cisco asked.

"We also have to tell you about the events leading up to now," Rider broke in, answering Cisco's question. "Namely, about the Fifth Holy Grail War."

"Wait, are you talking about _the_ Holy Grail?! The cup used by Jesus during the Last Supper?!" Cisco exclaimed.

Akiko nodded. "Yes, the very same."

"And you mentioned a 'War'," Caitlin added. "What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. It's a series of battles for the possession of the Holy Grail, able to grant any wish of the winning pair," Akiko told her.

H.R. had his arms crossed in thought and was currently tapping his right arm with one of his drumsticks. "Wait, the winning pair? So you're in teams of two?"

Julian was glancing at everyone he knows. "Do you all follow this? Because I don't."

"If we did understand the whole situation, we wouldn't be asking questions," Caitlin reminded him.

"Right..." Julian murmured.

"Don't worry; I'm lost, too," Joe whispered to Julian.

Barry continued the interrogation of the two breachers. "So...Akiko, right?" Akiko nodded at Barry and the man continued. "What's the 'Fifth Holy Grail War'?"

"It's called the fifth because it's the fifth time a war for the Grail broke out," Akiko said. "I'm what's known as a mage, someone who can manipulate mana, the energy inside everything and all around us, to cast spells."

"So you're saying you're a magician?" Cisco asked.

Caitlin looked sharply at him. "Those might not even exist where she's from! If they don't, she won't have a clue what you're talking about!"

"No, they do exist," Akiko replied. "But the spells mages can cast are...different." To show them what she means, she held out her right hand. A ball of fire formed in her palm briefly before it went out. "That was a low-quality spell, too. I could go large-scale, but I highly doubt the rest of you would get away unscathed."

"It's cool that you can do tricks like that!" Cisco exclaimed. He looked at Rider. "Is he a mage too?"

"No," Akiko told him. "He's a magical entity, a high-class familiar known as a Servant."

"A Servant?" Iris echoed, cocking her head.

"A Heroic Spirit. In other words, a hero from either history or mythology."

"Did this just turn into some sci-fi scenereo?! Joe exclaimed, lowering his gun down to his side.

"Wait, so he's a hero from the past?!" Julian demanded.

"Yes. Heroic Spirits are souls of heroes from the past, present, or future. Seven mages are chosen by the Grail to fight in the War for it. They are called Masters. Each summons a Heroic Spirit, or Servant, to be their partner in the War. And each of the seven Servants are summoned into one of the seven classes. They are Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Caster, and Assassin. Now for the details about the War itself.

The seven chosen Masters fight to the death in a series of battle taking place in Fuyuki, Japan. These fights pit Servant against Servant. And for the Servants that are killed, the mana making up their bodies is fed into the Holy Grail. The mana of six Servants fed into it makes it able to grant any wish. Servants are crucial because only they can touch the Holy Grail, as the Holy Grail is also a spiritual entity. When only one Master-Servant pair remains, the Grail can be claimed and the winning Master and Servant can have one wish granted.

However, Servants aren't the only things crucial. A Master is crucial to a Servant being able to stay in this world. Servants need mana to keep their physical forms. The Master that they have a pact with gives them the necessary mana. And if a Master is killed, the partnerless Servant has only a couple of hour to make a pact with someone chosen by the Grail, but without a Servant, before their mana runs out and they vanish."

"So, basically, this Holy Grail War is one big bloodbath," Joe summarized.

"If that helps you understand, then yes," Akiko said to him. She then held up her right hand and presented the back of it to the others, showing them the red tattoo-like marks on it. "These are my Command Seals. Each is made up of three strokes."

"And since command is in the name, I take it they have something to do with orders?" Cisco guessed.

"That's right. If you want to force a Servant to do something against their will, to make them teleport, or to grant them more mana without a mana transfer, you use a Command Seal. However, only three strokes are granted to you for the whole War. And once you use your last Seal, you are no longer a Master." Akiko lowered her hand. "Rider and I get along well, and I don't have to force him to obey my orders. So I have not used my Command Seals yet."

"So, tell us why your here," Barry said. "Or is there more overview?"

Akiko shook her head. "No. I covered the basics, what you all need to know. Now for why Rider and I are here. Rider and I, plus Saber and her Master, were the only ones left in the War. So the Holy Grail appeared, but would not be able to grant wishes without a sixth dead Servant's mana. However, the Archer from the Fourth War was still in the world for some reason. He planned to use the Grail to wipe out the entire human race. So we four went to Ryuudou Temple, where he and the Grail were, in order to stop him.

We knew it was a trap. He needed to kill just one of the remaining two Servants to activate the Grail. But Grail Mud was coming out of the Grail, which had not been summoned properly. The mud is curses that have taken physical form and sets fire to whatever it touches. To prevent the mud from burning down the entire city, we decided to destroy the Grail. We took the Archer down and Saber used her Noble Phantasm, a Servant's ultimate attack, to destroy it. But when she hit hit, her Noble Phantasm cut the Grail open and mud flew out. Saber's Master was hit and was killed. Saber was also hit, but she...changed. She took a...darker form. She became what is called an Alternate Servant."

Cisco cocked his head in confusion. "An Alternate Servant? What's that?"

"An Alternate Servant, or Alter for short, is a corrupted Servant. They lose their sanity, but also gain a boost in power. And they don't need Masters. They are able to generate their own mana. Now back to Alter Saber. She somehow managed to revive the five Servants that had already been killed, plus the Fourth War's Archer. All were now Alters.

Now since the Grail was destroyed, Rider should have vanished. But he didn't. And that means the Holy Grail War is still going on. Saber must have taken in a piece of the Grail when she was hit with the mud. And the only Servants left are her and Rider. But Saber has control over the other Alters. And she's hunting Rider down to kill him and win the War.

And that's why we're here. We managed to kill Alter Caster and Alter Assassin, but Alter Saber, Lancer, both Archers, and Berserker are still left. When Saber destroyed the Grail, it created a rip in the fabric of space. Rider and I didn't bother to see where it led. We were focused on fleeing the Alters. Eventually, they cornered us and we fled to the rip, hoping it would be a way to escape the Alters for now."

"It was _her_ idea!" Rider put in. "We didn't know what it did, so I tried to convince her otherwise. But she said we should risk going into the rip. If we didn't, the Alters would slaughter us."

"And one other thing," Akiko continued. "One of Rider's Noble Phantasms grants him invincibility to most of his body. However, special cases can bypass this. One is what the Noble Phantasm considers a 'friendly act'. For example, a bite from a vampire could get through, as it can also be seen as a way to make a comrade of the victim. Another way is a skill called Divinity. Rider has C-rank Divinity. Any attacks delivered by a Servant with this rank of Divinity or higher will wound him. Those with D or E-ranked Divinity can also wound him, but the power of the attack is reduced.

When the Servants became Alters, only three had the Divinity to wound Rider. But the mud gave those without Divinity C-rank Divinity, which would explain the increase in their power."

"So now any one of them can hurt Rider?" Joe summed up.

Akiko nodded. "Yes, but like I said, two are already dead. So five Alters remain. Now that I've answered your question, why don't you answer one of mine. Where are we?"

"Well, this is Earth-1. You two are probably from another Earth in the multiverse," Cisco said.

Julian snapped his head to look at Cisco. "The multiverse?! So these two came from a parallel universe?!"

"Wait, I'm not following!" Akiko exclaimed.

"Basically, you two went through a breach and landing on an Earth that both is and isn't the one you're familiar with," Caitlin explained.

"Well, get us back!" Akiko shouted.

Cisco scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Problem: without knowing the Earth you two are from, we can't send you back."

Akiko felt like someone hit her with a sack of bricks. "...So you're saying we're stuck here?!"

"Just until we calculate what universe you two are from," Cisco replied quickly. "Until then, both of you have to stay here."

Akiko facepalmed. "Fantastic..."

Barry turned around to look at Cisco. "They can use the room that Jessie and the Earth-2 Harry used." Then he looked back at Akiko and Rider. "That's right! You should probably learn our names. I'm Barry Allen."

"Cisco Ramon."

"Caitlin Snow."

"H.R. Wells."

"Julian Albert."

"Iris West."

"Wally West."

"Joe West."

"And our room?" Akiko prompted.

"Oh, right! Right this way," Cisco said, gesturing to the hall. He took the two to a room next to the breach one. After he did, he closed the door behind the two when they entered. Akiko flopped down onto the bed while a mist of white dust, mana, enveloped Rider. It blew away like a wind had come off of Rider's body and the mana vanished.

Rider was no longer wearing the same clothes he had before. He was now wearing an orange shirt under an opened black jacket. Over his legs were a pair of blue jeans. He also wore a pair of black shoes.

"Akiko," he said.

"Hmm?" Akiko sat up in the bed, looking at her Servant. "Something wrong?"

"Maybe. Did you really have to give them that many details?!"

"I had to in order to gain their trust. Besides, we're stuck here. I had to tell them everything in order to get their help."

"Well, at least you didn't tell them my true name."

"Don't worry, Achilles. We may have gotten their trust, but they haven't completely got ours. Until they do, we'll keep that one little secret."


	2. The First Alter

**There's quite a bit of murder in this chapter, but it's actually pretty typical of the Fate series.**

* * *

The next day, everyone, plus Akiko and Rider, were in the cortex, ready to start the day. But this time H.R. was there and Barry was the one absent.

"Hey, where's your friend?" Akiko asked Cisco, who was looking at the computer.

"Beats me," he replied.

"You know, for someone who runs as fast as he does, he sure shows up late often," Joe commented.

Rider sighed and crossed his arms. "Anyway, Cisco, have you figured out what Earth Akiko and I are from yet?"

"Nope. Still working on it."

Suddenly, Barry came speeding in, wind blowing the papers off the desk and turning Caitlin's hair into a mess. She only had her eyes wide, and looked to be trying to keep herself from lashing out. Barry held up a brown paper sack in each hand.

"I made a stop at Big Belly Burger." He handed the sacks to Akiko and Rider. "Figured you two would be hungry, since you pay with yen, a Japanese currency, and thus you won't be able to buy anything here."

Rider took his sack. "Thanks for the thought, but you didn't need to waste money on me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not hungry. I never am."

Barry stared at Akiko. "Is there something wrong with him?"

"No. Since he's a spirit, he absorbs mana for sustenance naturally. He's able to eat food, but he doesn't require it to survive."

"What about sleep?" Wally asked.

"He doesn't require that either. However, sleeping reduces his mana consumption."

"Huh, something new we learned about Servants," Joe said.

"Um, guys? We got a problem here," Cisco suddenly said.

"What is it," Barry asked.

"Near the CCPD, someone's threatening civilians."

"I'm on it. Wally!" Both speedsters sped out of the room. But Cisco wasn't done.

"Akiko and Rider, this might be related to both of you as well. The attacker has blue hair."

Akiko almost choked on her fries. "Blue hair?!"

"Yeah. It's not a natural hair color here."

"I want you to tell me one other thing so that I'm certain it's the person I think it is."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Is the person wielding a crimson lance?"

"Uh, yeah."

Rider was the one who spoke. "That confirms it. It's Alter Lancer."

"We have to get down there!" Akiko exclaimed. "Depending on where he cuts Wally and/or Barry, they'll be in trouble!"

"Wait," Iris said. "Why is that?"

"His spear has a special property," Akiko replied. "We'll explain what it is later! Rider!"

He hoisted Akiko up. Both of his arms were under his Master's upper thighs while both of Akiko's arms were wrapped around his neck.

"You're going?!" Cisco demanded. "It's better to leave this to Barry and Wally."

"We can take care of ourselves," Akiko assured him.

Cisco took a deep breath. "...Fine. But it's your lives you're gambling."

"We're used to betting our lives in the Holy Grail War."

Cisco tossed something to Akiko. She caught it easily.

"Here's a communicator. You two don't know where CCPD is, so I'll give you directions."

"Thanks." Akiko put the earpiece in her left ear. "Well, we're off. You can go full speed on our way out, Rider."

Rider took off out of the room at speeds that rivaled even Barry's! So that was why Akiko didn't look shocked when she saw the speedster run. Iris glanced at her father.

"Aren't you and Julian going to go too?"

"No," Joe replied. "My gut tells me that the attacker is someone we could never hope to handle. I only pray that my boys will stay safe."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

When Barry and Wally arrived, they saw the person surrounded by both frightened citizens and police with their guns drawn. It was a man with long blue hair. It was short around the head and spiked slightly. But at the base of the skull, it was long and drawn into a ponytail. The end of the hair in the ponytail was red.

The man also wore a black bodysuit with white lines, He also had shoulder armor over his left shoulder and a mask covering his eyes that were colored the same. The black stood out greatly from his pale skin. His nails were long, like claws. On his right shoulder was a mantle of blue and white fur.

In his right hand was a 7 or 8 foot long crimson spear. Both ends were pointed, but the end slanted towards the ground had the blade. Red bump-like lines wrapped around the whole length of the lance like vines.

Wally's attention was on the black mask. There were no eyeholes. "Can he even see us?"

"I think he can," one police officer said. "His attacks are aimed."

Then Barry saw all of the craters dotting the ground. It looked like a large wrecking ball had been dropped onto it from a mile in the air.

"Did he do all of this?!"

"Yeah. He's strong. And that's not all. Watch this. Open fire!"

At the same instant, all of the police officers fired off their guns at once at the mystery man. He smirked and a dome of wind surrounded him, expanding and causing all of the bullets to be deflected.

"Our bullets do nothing, so we're focusing on keeping this guy there while we protect the citizens at the same time."

"Got it. We'll see if we can do anything." He glanced at Wally. "Flank him and use speed punches for now. I'll take his left. You take his right."

"Fine. Let's get him."

The two were suddenly on either side of the man and were closing in on him. But, somehow, the man seemed to also be able to predict their movements despite how fast they were running. He jumped straight up. But an instant before Barry crashed into Wally, the two jumped straight up at the man, both with their right arm pulled back for a punch.

"We've got you now!" Barry shouted.

The man grinned evilly. "That's what you think," he said in a husky voice. His voice also seemed to have an echo to it. He spun himself upside down and twirled his spear over, or under in this case, his head. Both ends smacked Barry and Wally in the head, knocking both to the ground. The man landed straight down, flipping himself upright. His feet hit the ground as light as a feather.

One officer, in the man's blind spot, fired a bullet. But the guy grinned again, holding up his spear. The bullet hit the shaft. But it also ricocheted off the weapon and came back at the officer, where the man fell with a bleeding hole in his chest.

As if that was a signal, the rest of the officers shot at the enemy. He leapt at the officers, the bullets going under his steel shoes. He had the tip of his spear pointed down as he landed on one officer. The weapon easy bored into the officer's skull.

The two officers on either side of the man shot at him. But he jumped up again and the rain of bullets ended up hitting both officers. The rest shot upward at the murderer, but he twirled his spear on either side of his body, hitting the bullets back and killing the rest of the officers.

The citizens near the area screamed and ran. The man chuckled and ran after them. Barry and Wally were just now getting back onto their feet.

"Stop..." Barry groaned. One citizen just had their head chopped off, their blood staining the sidewalk. Two others were slashed in half. "Stop!"

Before Wally was up all of the way, Barry was. He ran to the man, who was now stained with several splashes of blood. Just as Barry was right behind the man, his right arm pulled back for a punch, the man spun around, facing Barry. Barry felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as the blood-red lance pierced all the way through it. He was hoisted it the air. The man had his left hand pulled back, claws ready to tear through the flesh and bones of Barry's chest to reach the heart and crush it.

"NO!" Wally shouted, running at the man to save Barry. Without even glancing at the other speedster, the man shot his left hand out and grabbed Wally's throat, the grip so tight that Wally struggled to breathe.

"Let go of them!"

There were three neighs before three horses pulling a large chariot slammed into the man. It was covered in a cloak of green energy. The man ended up being tossed over a mile away. This made him release Wally and let go of the lance. The lance, still in Barry's shoulder, vanished into a dust of blue mana.

The chariot came to a stop where the horses had slammed into the man, the green energy that had covered it now gone. Rider was revealed to be in the chariot, holding the reins to the three horses. Akiko was also in the chariot, holding onto Rider so she wouldn't be thrown off.

Akiko, the one who shouted, spoke. "Alter Lancer, just as we feared. It looks like they also made t to this world."

Rider glanced at his Master. "I sense him vanish in retreat. He's probably going to report to Alter Saber."

Akiko looked around at the blood and dead bodies all around. "Some died, but at least not a lot."

Barry wanted to shout "Not a lot?!"

Akiko continued, now looking at the two speedsters. "Come on. Let's get you two back to STAR Labs."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

While Wally was only suffering from a mild concussion, most of the medical attention went to Barry. His wound wouldn't stop bleeding.

"With his rapid recovery, stitches shouldn't be needed!" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Well, this is a special case, so he will need them!" Akiko told her.

Because of Barry's metabolism, anesthesia wouldn't work on him, so he had to endure every excruciating moment of the process. In the middle of it, the pain made him pass out.

When he came to, he saw that everyone was still in the room. Most were leaning against a table of the wall. And all were staring at Akiko and Rider.

"You know, right?" Caitlin asked. "About why Barry's wound won't heal. Tell us."

Akiko sighed and then spoke. "Any wound delivered by Gae Bolg cannot heal as long as the spear isn't destroyed."

"Gae Bolg?!" Cisco exclaimed. "I swear I recognize that name."

"In our world, it was wielded by the hero, Cu Chulainn. Is it the same here?"

"Yeah! Cu Chulainn is a Irish demigod!" Cisco said.

"Not much of a hero," Wally said. "More like a murderer of innocents."

"You have to remember that he's acting like an anti-hero because he's an Alter," Akiko told him.

"If they're in this world, then who are we up against?" Joe asked.

"Five Alters," Akiko replied. "Lancer, Ireland's Child of Light, Cu Chulainn. Berserker, the Raging Destroyer, Hercules. Archer, the Wrought-Iron Hero, EMIYA. The other Archer, the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. And finally, the King of Knights, Saber. True name...Arturia Pendragon."

Iris cocked her head. "I recognize the name 'Pendragon', but not 'Arturia'."

"In our world, she's known in mythology as King Arthur."

"King Arthur?! We have mythology about that person on Earth-19 as well!" H.R. exclaimed.

"But who's EMIYA? I haven't heard of him. Is he a mythological hero in just your world?" Caitlin asked.

Akiko shook her head. "No. He's a future hero. It's a long story," she added when it looked like the others were going to ask her for more on EMIYA. "As I mentioned yesterday, with Rider's near-invincibility, only demigods such as Gilgamesh, Hercules, and Cu Chulainn would be a threat to him. But now that all are Alters, Arturia and EMIYA are as well."

"And what's his real name?" Joe asked.

"I can't tell you that."

"Why not?!" Julian demanded.

"Because a true name is a Servant's biggest secret. If an Alter captures one of you, they may get you to reveal it." That was a lie. In truth, the Alters already know that Achilles is Rider's true name. But Akiko didn't tell the others because she doesn't completely trust them yet. After all, they may find a way to use Rider's identity against him.

"One thing I noticed, Akiko, was that you didn't seemed fazed by all the death Alter Lancer caused," Barry spoke up. "And you even called it a few deaths!"

Akiko looked at him before replying. "What would you be willing to give up for your wish?"

"What?"

"Slaughtering countless innocents, causing mass destruction, all of these and more acts are performed in the Holy Grail War, all for the sake of winning the right to have a wish granted. It isn't something we haven't seen before. That is the reality we are pulled into."


End file.
